A Deeper Bench & Another Win

Syracuse gets their senior forward back to add another element to the Orange, resulting in the addition of another win, gaining the coveted 20th victory of the season. Full recap inside.

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team stays on the winning end of the spectrum, defeating the visiting St. John's Red Storm, 77-58.

After going 0-2 in their latest road stint, the Orange have since posted a 2-0 record at home.

Overall, Syracuse has a record at home this season and have won 37-straight matches in the Dome dating back to the 2010-11 season, the longest active streak in NCAA Division I men's basketball.

Taking an early lead by making the first basket by either side off of junior forward C.J. Fair's three, Syracuse never trailed in the entire game.

Once the Orange attained a double-digit lead off of a jumper by junior center Baye Keita at 10:31 remaining in the first half, they would hold onto at least a 10-point lead all the way to the break.

With under 10 seconds to play in the opening half, senior guard Brandon Triche connected from long range to extend Syracuse to a 13-point lead on St. John's at 37-24.

The Red Storm struck coming out of the break, gaining the first five points of the second half, bringing the Orange lead to eight points before Triche got involved in another three, but this time off of an assist to fellow guard, sophomore Michael Carter-Williams, who cashed in from deep.

Syracuse had an exceptional shooting night from beyond the arc, matching their output from the first half in the latter half, going 5-for-11 in both halves.

St. John's took the same amount of threes as Syracuse (22), but made half as many (five compared to 10).

The closest the Red Storm came to the Orange was on an attempt from inside the arc, where freshman forward Jakarr Sampson, their leading scorer of the game, made a jumper to bring the Red Storm within five.

But the Orange would get back to a double-digit lead off of a Carter-Williams' layup with 6:48 remaining, 60-50, and never allow the Red Storm to cut their advantage into single digits again.

The final make by either side came from Syracuse's Carter-Williams when he connected from long range for the third time in the game with eight seconds to go, giving the Orange their largest lead of the game, 19 points, to end the contest 77-58 over the Red Storm.

Carter-Williams and Fair shared the highest point total for all Syracuse players, with 17 apiece.

Sampson of St. John's not only led his team but all players on either side with 21 points, almost seven points above his season average of 14.5 points per game.

No one made or took more shots than Sampson, who went 10-for-14, good for over 71% from the field.

Fair was the best from the field for Syracuse, going 7-for-13, making almost 54% of his attempts.

The junior forward was one of five Orange players to make at least 50% of their tries from the field. Keita was the best, going 4-for-4 in the match.

As a team, Syracuse made half of their attempts in the first half (14-for-28) only to raise the bar in the second half, connecting 57.7% of the time (15-for-26), ending the game at 53.7% from the field.

St. John's elevated their play from the field as well from the first half (33.3%) to the second half (48.4%), concluding the match at 41.8%.

The Orange continued their progress at the line, going 9-for-10, with the Red Storm taking the same amount of tries from the charity stripe but making less, ending 7-for-10.

Both teams tied on the glass, grabbing 30 rebounds apiece, with Syracuse winning on the defensive glass (24 to 20), but losing on the offensive end (six to 10).

The Orange recorded more assists than the Red Storm, 20 to 14, with Carter-Williams having eight helpers for the second straight game.

Triche finished one shy with seven.

Syracuse also won in turnovers, giving the ball up 12 times to St. John's 16. In the second half, the Orange cut their turnovers in half, going from eight in the opening half to four.

The Orange forced 11 steals to the Red Storm's four. Carter-Williams accounted for more than half of Syracuse's steal, with six.

Keeping on the defensive end, Keita led all blockers on either side as the only player with multiple blocks (2), with Syracuse leading St. John's four knockaways to two.

Syracuse improves to 16-1 with Southerland and will take him on the road for the first time since the team played the Friars in Providence, Rhode Island, to Connecticut to face the Huskies of UConn on Wednesday, February 13th, at 7pm ET.

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